


To Be on The Other Side

by rscrapave



Series: Wonder [3]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Grief/Mourning, Original Character Death(s), Post-Breaking Dawn, Post-Canon, RC Cullen, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29335380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rscrapave/pseuds/rscrapave
Summary: What is death? Why are people afraid of it? Are they afraid of the actual death or what comes after that? RC Cullen has never experience a loss, a death but she's afraid of it. She doesn't realize that there are something worst.
Relationships: Emmett Cullen/Rosalie Hale, Renesmee Cullen & Bella Swan, Renesmee Cullen & Rosalie Hale, Renesmee Cullen/Original Female Character
Series: Wonder [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2142036
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	To Be on The Other Side

**Author's Note:**

> Let's have at it one more time!
> 
> I'm not sure if I should put a trigger warning or not but I'm doing it just in case. There will be a mention of a character's death and how it affects people around them. I don't think it's anything graphic or intense, but I'm mentioning it now.
> 
> Anyways, I do not own Twilight. Only the original character(s) I created for this story.

**To Be on The Other End**

She considered herself lucky to have never seen a loss. To see someone died or heard about it. To witness the effects of someone’s demise on others, or the one who caused it. RC, like some other people, was afraid of death, of what came after. Death was the worst kind of thing. Or so she thought. 

The both of them were studying in RC’s dorm when Rory’s phone rang, which was odd because she always put it on silent. The screen lit up and RC could read ‘important call’ flashing bright under the caller’s ID. 

_Uncle Carter A._

Rory told her about Uncle Carter. The cool uncle, she said. He worked at their family’s multinational company with the majority of Rory’s family members. When Rory and her mom had to leave for business trips, Uncle Carter would sometimes tag along, keeping her company.

RC noticed how her friend’s expression went from confused to excited to downright nervous in a span of two seconds. She realized that it could be more, because the loud ringing was starting to hurt her hearings by the time Rory picked up the phone. 

She tried not to eavesdrop the conversation, because clearly, Rory didn’t want her to hear when she straight up—still not how that was possible to do—rushed away to the bathroom. She tried, she really did. RC put on her headphones and turned up the volume before staring at the papers scattered on the floor in front of her.

With the headphones and Rory being in the other room, the call was muffled, but RC picked up a sentence from the phone that made Rory’s heartbeat go haywire. 

_He’s critical._

It was quiet after that, too quiet for her liking. RC threw her headphones to the bed and approached the bathroom door. Her hand was raised, ready to knock, but it stayed frozen halfway before reaching the wood. The silence was deafening. All she managed to hear was Rory’s trembling breaths and her increasing heartbeat. 

“Rory, you good?” RC hissed at the shakiness in her voice.

“Fine,” Rory answered a little bit too fast. 

There was a sound of running water behind the door and Rory came out two seconds later. Her face was wet, water dripping down from her chin to her shirt. RC looked for a sign of crying but she couldn’t find any. Rory’s eyes weren’t red and swollen, her nose wasn’t runny and her breaths were no longer shaky. She was just… blank. 

Before she could ask anything else, Rory brushed past her and started to messily shove her things into her bag. 

RC’s brows furrowed as she walked closer. “Rory?”

“Sorry. I’m sorry, I really am,” Rory mumbled under her breath. Her voice was low and stifled, but RC didn’t have a problem hearing her friend’s words. “I have to go, I’m sorry. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“O-okay?”

But Rory already disappeared behind the front door. 

Rory was still nowhere to be found for the next three days. RC kept trying to call, but it went to voicemail every single time. She tried asking Rory’s friends but they haven’t seen or heard from her either. Rory’s roommate, a girl who was supposed to help RC on her first day—Laurel, if she remembered correctly, said the last time she saw Rory was on that day when she got the phone call. Laurel told her about Rory being in a hurry, switching her school bag to another, before heading out again not two minutes after that. 

“She said she’s going out of town for a few days,” Laurel said. “Some emergency I think? I didn’t ask further, she went back out as if she was chased by something.” 

RC came back home that weekend with no news whatsoever from her friend. She tried not to think about it so much, but she couldn’t help but to worry a little. Her Aunt Alice even struggled to see Rory’s decisions clearly, as though her future was hidden inside a dark room that not even vampires could see through. 

“Are you sure you can’t see anything?”

Alice gave her a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, I can’t. They were the same as yesterday. Other than she’s alive, I can’t see anything else.”

RC took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves, but her feet kept moving back and forth in the living room. She remembered the story her mom told her, about the time when she was left behind in Forks while Edward and the rest of the family went away. It was after Bella’s 18th birthday fiasco and RC remembered how her mom described it as the most empty and depressing time in her life. 

At first, she didn’t understand how that was possible and neither her mom nor anybody else wanted to explain that further. She couldn’t fully grasp the thought. Until it happened to her and Rory was the Cullens in her story. It wasn’t exactly the same, but it was close enough that she started to comprehend her mom’s feelings back then. 

“I’m sure Veronica is fine, Lily. She promised she’d call, didn’t she?”

She stopped in her tracks to look at Rosalie, hoping that by staring hard at her aunt would make that statement actually true. RC stood there, her hand already went up to her lips. 

Rosalie put down the magazine she was reading and patted the space beside her. RC wasted no time launching herself to Rosalie’s side, leaning her head on a stone hard shoulder as cold arms wrapped around hers. She felt a hand stroking her head, fingers ran through her hair. RC let out a deep breath before her eyes started to drop.

For a second, she could calm down. Little noises still reached her ears, like hearing underwater and she could still feel the softness of the shirt bundled in her fist. For a second, she was content. The calm before the storm.

“—xactly why she shouldn’t have fraternized with the other kids. She’s in too deep.”

She felt a frown slowly formed on her forehead, pulling her away from the tranquility.

“Funny you should say that. You did exactly this a few years ago.”

RC’s eyes opened lazily as she felt the low growl beside her, then another across the room. 

“Edward, she’s just worried about her friend.” She heard her mom’s voice. 

_My friend. Rory. She’s not answering my calls_. _It’s been almost a week_ , _is she okay?_

“I think you should be more concerned about our confidentiality that you have risked to expose to your friend than her well-being.”

_Yeah, that’s strike three._

“No, _Dad_ , I think you should stay out of my head!” RC snapped. Gone was the peace and quiet. 

“She’s a danger to us.” Edward growled, completely ignoring RC’s demand. “You said your friend wouldn’t be a liability but now you can’t reach her, and Alice couldn’t track her decisions. What do you call that, Renesmee?”

“Why are you being such a hypocrite? Unlike you, I didn’t jeopardize this family’s safety. I don’t run around telling my _human_ friends about how different my family is, how different _I am_. We’re different, we can’t really do much about that but we can choose not to _advertise_ it. Unlike you, I’m actually capable of keeping something on the down low.”

“You—”

“Don’t!” She darted across the room, shoving Edward in the shoulder. “You don’t get to say your piece until I’m done. And let me tell you something, _Dad_. This is what it feels like to have a life outside your family. I care about my friend, who is going through a rough patch right now. But I guess you wouldn’t know that, right? You never engage in the human society that you’re desperately trying to fit into, and _failing_ wonderfully. Maybe take a page out of my book and actually _try_ sometimes. Because this whole toxic superiority thing you got going on? It’s getting real old, real fast.”

RC turned around and stormed out of the house. From the corner of her eyes, she saw her Aunt Rosalie gave her a full, satisfying smile, but she couldn’t bask in the glory. All the screaming she did to her father’s face, turned out, wasn't enough to let out all the frustration and resentment and everything else she was feeling inside. It was less cathartic than she hoped. 

So, she ran. 

She ran as fast as her feet could carry her, cutting through the trees surrounding her family’s property, the house that Esme was so proud to rebuild from the ground up. RC knew if she stayed any longer, she would explode. Literally and figuratively. The destruction of the house wouldn’t end just in the living room and she didn’t want Esme to be disappointed in her. No, one look of disappointment from Esme would surely destroy her. 

One of the perks of moving to places that were littered with so many green, was the seclusion. Behind the bushes and the tree trunks, under the shades of leaves up above. Oh, and also, the lack of other supernatural beings in the other part of the woods.

The wind hitting her face and the rustling under her feet almost brought the rage inside her down to zero. RC only stopped when she was high on the mountain. She stood on the cliff, overlooking the forest below. After another few deep breaths, she walked to sit on the edge, her feet dangled over. It was already dark, but she had no problem seeing the scenery. 

RC loved this. The solitude, the landscape, the little things she picked up along the way. But when she could finally calm down, her mind went back to Rory.

_Rory should be fine, right? Just another family emergency, so she had to—_

Her phone buzzed before a guitar instrumental slowly fading in. RC fumbled to reach her pocket. She didn’t bother reading the caller ID before sliding the answer button. Why should she, when the ringtone was _hers_. 

“Hello?” RC could feel her heart starting to beat fast. Well, faster than usual. 

“Hey.”

She almost doubled over to the cliff when she heard her voice. It was barely a whisper and sounded so tired, but it was her. It was Rory.

“Hi.” RC swallowed down a choke. “How are you doing?” She heard slow, heavy breathing from the line.

“To be honest, I don’t know.” Another long breath. “I really don’t know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. How could it be?” Rory let out a chuckle, but it didn’t sound like her and that got RC to worry. “Why are you even apologizing? I’m the one who's supposed to say sorry, dammit. It took me days to finally give you a call."

"You called at the end. That's what matters. I know how important keeping promises is to you." RC bit the corner of her lip and her unoccupied hand unconsciously started rubbing it. "And don't worry about me. Your family needs you. They're more important."

"You're important too."

RC gulped down hard. 

The line went quiet, but she could hear shuffling and Rory’s breathing. At least her friend hadn't hung up. She started to think that Rory needed this as much as she did. The grounding to life and existence. Both were so very numbered for one of them.

"Uncle Carter had an accident," Rory started, her voice thickened with emotion. "He's in a coma, but they had him off the ventilator today." 

"Rory, I'm so sorry."

"He has a surgery scheduled but I couldn’t get a pass from my professors and they want me back next week."

The audacity of unsympathetic teachers were something else entirely. They had high education to earn their degrees and still they lack the basics of human decency.

"Anyway," Rory continued, "I'm flying back tomorrow morning. So, I'll see you Monday?"

RC frowned. "Fly? How are you getting back to campus?"

"I'll take a cab."

"Okay. I will see you at the arrival terminal tomorrow."

"Dude—"

"Rory, you are not taking a cab while I am perfectly capable of picking you up," she fired back.

"You can't even drive."

"I'll take Rosalie."

"You don't know my flight arrival time."

"Rory, there's only so many inbound flights coming to Lebanon Municipal. I can figure it out if you don't want to tell me." 

Rory let out an exaggerated breath. "There is literally nothing that can stop you, is it?"

"Nope." RC couldn't help the smile that started to creep up her face. She was proud to admit that she got the persistent part of her charm, rubbed off from the women in her family.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow I guess."

* * *

Her heart was beating so much faster by the time she arrived at Rosalie’s house, for an entirely different reason than before she got that call. RC was buzzing, she didn’t bother using the door like any normal person would, and leaped through an opened window. She landed in front of the fireplace on her knees. From the chaise lounge, Rosalie was looking at her with an eyebrow raised in amusement.

Some other days, Rosalie would probably scold her for jumping through everything in her house. She already got enough trouble from Emmett. That was probably why she got Esme to build another wing in the house just for his gaming and home entertainment system. 

When RC managed to slow down her heartbeat and could actually _talk,_ she told Rosalie about Rory’s phone call, basically begging her to drive down to Lebanon to pick up her friend. She was still surprised that it literally took two seconds for her aunt to agree, since Rosalie was known to not let just anyone inside her precious cars. 

On Sunday morning, RC and Rosalie were sitting in the car, parked under a shady tree on the far side of the parking lot. A part of her was starting to feel guilty when she realized the cloudy sky of Hanover didn’t move along with them to Lebanon. It wasn’t that sunny out, but it was still sunny enough that Rosalie’s skin would probably be noticeable when they both walked into the building.

The whole airport was so small, it only had one building and RC could see the runway from the car. The parking lot itself was basically deserted, with only a handful of cars and trucks. Rosalie’s RS7 was probably the nicest one in the lot. They hadn’t been waiting for more than fifteen minutes, but there were no signs of any flights coming in, especially not a flight from a major airport.

“Lily, do you know what flight Veronica’s in?”

“Err, no?” Her answer sounded more like a question than an answer and RC had to fight off a grimace. “Rory only told me that she will be landing around ten. I mean, how hard is it to find out about incoming flights to an airport as small as this is?”

“Have you even looked?” Rosalie’s tone wasn’t accusatory, but RC could feel her face getting hot. 

No, she has not looked up any incoming flights to Lebanon Municipal from any other airport in the country. She wasn’t even sure she knew _where_ Rory was flying from. The thought just slipped from her mind last night. When she turned to the driver seat, Rosalie was on her phone, scrolling, before showing the phone screen to her.

“There are no more incoming flights, Lily. The first, and the last one, was the one small plane that took off just before we got here.”

Her stomach twisted after hearing Rosalie’s words. She could feel her muscle tensed up as her fist balled on top of her thighs. “W-wait, there’s, there’s no way she lied—”

RC’s thought was cut off when she heard a distant rumble from jet engines approaching. She watched from the passenger seat as the private plane landed and taxied through the runway. Not long after that, her phone rang. She braced herself before picking up. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, RC.” Rory’s voice was clear, but RC still picked up some faint sound of a plane in the background. “Are you at the airport already? I just landed. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Rory hung up the phone before RC could say anything else. She stared at her screen, which still had Rory’s picture from the call. A short few minutes later, RC saw her friend approaching, but she didn’t come from the terminal building like other people earlier. Rory came out from the thin wire gates beside the building. It was her, alright, wearing her usual combat boots and a jacket over her hoodie. RC was surprised that Rory _could_ actually wear her jacket instead of just carrying it over her arm.

As Rory jogged to the parking lot, RC noticed the differences a few days made on her friend. Rory’s hair was a mess, but not like her usual smooth, tossed off to the side mess. Her shoulder was slumped and her steps seemed to be dragged over the concrete. Rory got her hands shoved down her jeans pocket as her eyes scanned the parking lot. Even from a few feet away, RC could see the bags under her eyes—a lot darker than usual. 

_She hasn’t been sleeping_.

When Rory’s eyes fell on the car, RC could’ve sworn that her friend was looking directly at her, even though she knew it wasn’t possible. One, no human eyes can see that well. Two, Rosalie’s car, like every other car that her family owned sans one or two others, had tinted windows.

RC got out of the car and walked to her friend. There was a smile on Rory’s face when she saw her, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. The girl looked tired, as if she had spent the last four days carrying the weight of the world. RC couldn’t help but just throw her arms around her and Rory instantly stiffened. It took her a few seconds to actually relax into the hug and in that moment, RC wished that her abilities included taking people’s pain away.

By the time they got back inside the car, Rosalie was staring at them, her expression hard and neutral. All the years she had known her aunt, RC knew that Rosalie was contemplating. Either to let all this play out for her sake or to lurch to the backseat and just kill her friend. RC prayed to whatever vampires were supposed to pray to that it wouldn’t be the latter.

She started to realize more and more than volunteering to pick up her friend with her _vampire_ aunt was a bad idea. The risk of accidentally exposing the existence of her family was getting bigger by the second. Rory was a smart kid, even though she didn’t think of that most of the time, but RC knew, and saw right what her friend couldn’t. So, it wouldn’t take a lot for her to figure out everything that was out of place with RC’s supposed-to-be adoptive sister in the driver seat.

“Rosalie?” Rory’s voice cut through the silence in the car. Other than exchanging a few formal hello and introductions, she hadn’t said a word on their drive back to Dartmouth. 

“Yes, Veronica?”

RC gazed over to see her aunt’s face which she still not sure how to read.

“I know you don’t have to go through all this trouble. I can figure something out.”

“I’m sure you do,” Rosalie replied. “I mean, you have that private jet. I’m sure a car wouldn’t be too hard?”

Rory let out a nervous chuckle, tossing her hair back messily. Her hand lingered at the back of her neck as she shifted in her seat. “Yeah, I, can’t, I couldn’t find a flight for today, so I, uh, hitched a ride with my mama’s assistant. She’s filling in for my mama for some meetings in Vancouver, because, well, you know…” 

RC detected the slight change in her friend’s breathing. She threw an intense glare to the driver seat, knowing well that Rosalie could see her. 

“But anyway, you don’t, you don’t have to.” Rory took a deep, shaky breath. “I, I just want to say thank you. You know? I really appreciate it.” 

“No problem.” That was all Rosalie said, but RC knew her better. She could read between the lines of her aunt’s unspoken words. _I didn’t do this for you, I did it for her_.

RC reached over the steering wheel to hold Rosalie’s right hand. Rosalie put their joined hands on top of her thighs as she kept driving. To Rory, the gesture wouldn’t mean nothing more than a handhold. To RC and her aunt, it was everything she couldn’t say.

 _Thank you_.

Rosalie smiled widely, squeezing RC’s hand.

* * *

The girl that left Dartmouth and the one who came back wasn’t the same. 

Few days flew by, and Rory hadn’t been like her usual self. RC couldn’t blame her, really. She didn’t mean to, but she overheard several phone calls that went into Rory’s phone. Every time, Rory’s heart would beat faster and her hands would shake as she answered it. Every time, RC knew she was expecting the worst. Every time, she wasn’t getting better at it.

Rory became distant and RC noticed that she moved less. When RC told this to her family, she got the same dismissive reply from her father. He said that it was a good thing for them, that they didn’t need another baggage. Bella, Rosalie, and basically everyone went ballistic. 

She really thought that years and years of living with humans would grow a vampire as a person, but it didn’t seem like the case with Edward. Everyone in their family, including her mom, knew how it felt like to lose someone. Family members of their human lives, or the newfound friends from the immortal ones. They knew the feeling. RC thought that it would make them at least empathetic. Well, at least some of them were.

Rory’s uncle wasn’t gone, but every phone call that she received, it never brought good news. It was always no news or bad news. RC couldn’t see the future, but she had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long until the last ever call came.

It was Friday when she and Rory walked out of their class, arms tangled with each other. She let her friend set the pace as they walked to the parking lot where Rosalie and Bella were waiting. They were about to hunt, but obviously RC couldn’t tell that to her friend. Camping trip was what she told Rory and the girl had no trouble believing it. 

“Hey, Bella, Rosalie.” Rory gave them a small wave.

Bella gave her a nod as Rosalie said, “Veronica.”

“Are you—”

Rory’s phone rang, and they all heard how her breathing became more rapid and her heartbeat accelerated. She walked away as she answered her phone, but RC couldn’t hear any words. She shared a look with Bella and Rosalie. None of them heard anybody talk. RC strained her ears, and she picked up a sob coming from the phone. 

_Oh._

When Rory walked back, her face was hard and tense. RC was expecting her friend to cry out or scream, or _something_. Other than her reddening eyes, Rory looked all the same.

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too.” Rory’s voice dropped, lower than it usually was. 

RC’s brows furrowed as she bit her lip, knowing well that her mom and aunt would probably have a problem with what she was about to say. “Listen, Rory. I can stay with you if you want.”

As if on cue, some low, barely audible hiss reached her ears and she held back a grimace. 

“No, it’s fine, I’m fine. You should spend some time with your…” Rory cleared her throat. “Uh, family.”

“Are you sure you’re fine?”

Rory bit her lower lip. “No idea, but I need to do this one on my own. Have fun with your family, okay? Don’t worry too much about me.”

She watched as Rory walked away from her. The girl squared her shoulder before looking back, giving her a two fingers salute while walking backwards. RC didn’t take her eyes off her friend until Rory disappeared around the corner. 

Her mom gave her an intense look when she turned around. It didn’t really take a lot to figure out that she was mad. Rosalie on the other hand, RC wasn’t sure. It felt like she was torn between wanting to be on her page and Bella’s at the same time. She thought that it made sense. Everyone in the family always said that Rosalie had a soft spot for her. Even her father said that Rosalie was the most likely to back her up to the end of the world. 

RC knew that she messed up. She knew she got too close, even though she would never admit that out loud. But how could someone _live_ near somebody else but not _get close_? Rory had something terrible going on in her life, wasn’t it fair for RC, as her friend, to want to help as much as she could? To lessen the pain? To make it a little easier?

Maybe this was one of the reasons why her family was so apprehensive about her ‘living out on her own’. Maybe she was never supposed to be this close to Rory. To the point where she was ready to walk through hell for her, just so her friend wouldn’t be alone. 

_Should I stop?_

But Rory was her friend. Her first real friend that helped her got used to a normal, human life, from the moment they met. This was the girl that took no shit from anyone and didn’t go around stuffing her nose in people’s businesses. This was Rory, the girl that helped her to understand the situation she lived in, even though Rory didn’t know a lot about it.

By the next day, RC already got a text from Rory. They were holding a funeral for her uncle in upstate New York, so she’d be gone a little longer. She really, really wanted to help. A part of her was tempted to take the first flight out of Hanover, or just _ran_ all the way there. But the other part of her, they knew better. If she even managed to sneak past her family, RC would still end up in a city full of people. Eight million, living, breathing _humans_. 

Even if RC had a good self-control, she never actually tested that around that many people. It was always a few hundred, around three or four thousand max. If she actually went there, followed her friend, and some slip up happened, she couldn’t even imagine. 

Actually, she could. RC Cullen could be the cause of someone’s death. Someone’s child, someone’s sibling, someone’s friend. While she never had anyone close to her die, she would first be the cause of it for somebody else, and lived with it.

At that moment she wasn’t sure which one was worse. [] 

**Author's Note:**

> III.
> 
> This little story has grown, damn. Little side note so there will be no misunderstanding; my original character is Veronica, nicknamed Rory. In the first story, she said Rory is what her friends call her, that's why to the rest of the Cullens, she's Veronica. They are not considered friends yet, but don't worry it will change. 
> 
> Oh, and let me know what you think, okay?


End file.
